urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-a27fff3d-0d1b-4145-b91e-6726fb6cadf1Insurance - Tags - brazil Incorporate new approaches to address uncertainty and complexity.12013-06-26T15:55:07-04:00IBM Connections - Blogsurn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-a36eabb6-1d0a-4a31-a50d-667650439f3bEmpowered Brazil (Powerful interaction points #6: Brazil)Christian Bieckchristian.bieck@de.ibm.com270001WK4FactiveComment Entriesapplication/atom+xml;type=entryLikes2012-09-03T07:22:56-04:002012-09-03T07:27:47-04:00<P align=left>Anybody going to be at the <A href="https://www-304.ibm.com/software/commerce/summit/">Smarter Commerce Summit</A> in Orlando this week? I will be presenting on Wednesday around noon on my favorite topic, the customer of the future and what that means for insurance. It looks as though close to 3k people will be there, pretty exciting!</P>
<P align=left>So today’s post is once again a consumer one, this time on Brazil –&nbsp; it should have been next in the alphabet quite a while ago anyway, and it is interesting to compare to Mexico, the country we talked about <A href="https://www-304.ibm.com/connections/blogs/gbs_insurance/entry/the_empowered_consumer_powerful_interaction_points_5_mexico?lang=en_us">last time</A>.</P>
<P align=left>Check out this graph:</P>
<P><A href="https://www-304.ibm.com/connections/blogs/gbs_insurance/resource/Windows-Live-Writer_c44e4dc5ee33_AF81_empowerment_2.jpg"><IMG style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px" title=empowerment border=0 alt=empowerment src="https://www-304.ibm.com/connections/blogs/gbs_insurance/resource/Windows-Live-Writer_c44e4dc5ee33_AF81_empowerment_thumb.jpg" width=480 height=368></A></P>
<P>This is from one of our previous studies (<A href="http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/bus/html/gbs-dynamic-insurance-future.html">from 2009</A>). Brazil is right there at the top regarding consumer empowerment (the light green dot). Why do growth markets have higher consumer empowerment?</P>
<P>- growth countries have a lower level of service – consumers expect less and are used to doing more themselves in insurance and other financial services, i.e. take charge <BR>- consumers in growth countries that buy financial products are in general more sophisticated relative to their countrymen <BR>- in developed countries insurance is relatively static, so consumers feel less empowered because they feel their impact is minimal</P>
<P align=left>Considering empowerment, it shouldn’t be surprising that both Brazil and Mexico have a psychographic segmentation spread that reflects this. </P>
<P align=left>Both Brazil and Mexico have relatively many demanding support-seekers (a high empowerment type) and few price-oriented minimalists. The U.S., in contrast, shows a spread consistent with lower empowerment.</P>
<P align=left>Brazil has the highest percentage of bank channel usage in our study. This reflects the strong market share of banks in both life and general insurance, which was reported at 55% in 2009; partly because they have a large market share among lower income customers. Our data confirms this. If we only look at respondents with above average income, 36.4% of those solicit information from the bank advisor but do not get further than the quote; only 14.7% of above average income respondents use the bank advisor for purchase.</P>
<P align=left>Implications? As I keep telling our clients in other growth markets: “best practices” from mature markets or even other growing economies are not very helpful. Brazilian consumers are tougher than elsewhere, not because they look more closely at premiums (quite the opposite) but because they know what they want and are looking mainly for a package that provides security. Brazilian insurers should resist the commoditization that is going on in mature markets. (NB: they should resist it in mature markets as well, but, you know… <IMG style="BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none; BORDER-LEFT-STYLE: none; BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; BORDER-RIGHT-STYLE: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-winkingsmile" alt="Zwinkerndes Smiley" src="https://www-304.ibm.com/connections/blogs/gbs_insurance/resource/Windows-Live-Writer_c44e4dc5ee33_AF81_wlEmoticon-winkingsmile_2.png"> )</P>
<P align=left>Hope to see some of the blog readers in Orlando!</P>Anybody going to be at the Smarter Commerce Summit in Orlando this week? I will be presenting on Wednesday around noon on my favorite topic, the customer of the future and what that means for insurance. It looks as though close to 3k people will be there,...001151urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-a27fff3d-0d1b-4145-b91e-6726fb6cadf1Insurance2013-06-26T15:55:07-04:00